The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2) (16 page)

An hour later, it was time to run more tests on Erik and me. Jack worked on analyzing the results while the rest of us made dinner. Although we’d made dinner together all week, we still weren’t very good at it. In fact, watching the four of us try to cook a meal was completely comical. The kitchen was only big enough for one or two people, so we were constantly bumping into each other.
 

“What’s going on in there?” Jack yelled after hearing us drop yet another pan.

“Nothing, Dad,” Erik called back.
 

Brittany started laughing, which made everyone laugh.

Jack came into the kitchen holding his laptop. “Well, I’ve got some results back. And it looks like the timer is finally slowing the way I predicted it would.”

I went up to see the laptop screen. “That’s great! How much is it slowing? Can you tell?”

“I haven’t measured it yet. It’s better to wait and give it more time. I’m guessing it will slow even more.”

Colin walked in from outside with a platter of chicken. He was stuck on grill-duty again.
 

“Colin, the timer is slowing just like Jack predicted,” I told him.

He set his platter down and gave me a hug. “Sam, that’s awesome!”

As we celebrated, Paul walked in. Jack gave him the good news.

“Jack, I’m so happy it worked,” Paul said. “I didn’t mean to be a downer, but you never know about those computer models. And I didn’t want you to get your hopes too high.”

“No worries,” Jack assured him. “You were just being a good scientist. Well, it looks like dinner’s ready so I’ll go put the laptop away.”

Paul smiled. “Wow. Dinner’s ready when I get home? I hate to see you guys leave tomorrow. I’m going to miss all of you.”

“Believe me. A few more days with four teenagers, you wouldn’t be saying that,” Jack kidded as he left the kitchen.

“Hey!” Brittany protested.
 

After dinner, we all played a trivia game that Paul had stashed away in a closet. Jack didn’t want us talking or thinking about the alien DNA or the timer. And playing the game did just that. At least for those couple of hours.
 

Since Paul would be at work by the time we left on Friday, we thanked him and said our goodbyes before heading to bed.
 

The next morning, Jack ran another round of tests on Erik and me. The analysis showed that the timer was still slowing at the same pace as the night before.

We packed up the van, then left Paul’s house and headed into town. We had to get some supplies for the road, including the things Jack needed to take care of Colin’s stitched-up forehead. Jack spotted a bookstore and decided to buy a few newly released conspiracy theory books for Paul.
 

“We’re so close to campus, I’m going to drop them off rather than try to mail them later,” Jack decided. “He doesn’t have class until 10. It’ll be a nice surprise for him.”

When we got to the genetics department, Paul wasn’t in the lab. We checked his classroom; it was dark.
 

“He probably just stepped out,” Jack surmised. “Let’s go back to the lab and wait a few minutes.”

We waited but Paul didn’t show.
 

Jack checked his watch. “It’s almost 10. Erik, go down and see if he’s in the classroom. He’s gotta be there by now.”

Erik went to the classroom but was back right away. “It’s still dark in there. Maybe they moved the class. Or canceled it.”

Jack got up and searched for a pen. “I’ll just leave the books here and attach a note. We can’t keep waiting. We need to get on the road.”

As Jack was writing the note, Professor Wilkins came racing in, flustered. “What are you doing here?”

Jack looked up from his note. “Oh, hello. We’re heading out of town and wanted to say goodbye to Paul.”

Wilkins gave us a strange look. “Haven’t you heard the news?”
 

“What news?” Erik asked.

“The news about Paul,” Wilkins answered. “I can’t believe you didn’t—”

“What happened?” Jack interrupted.
 

“When Paul came in this morning, he wasn’t feeling well.” Wilkins’ speech was fast and a little shaky. “I was talking to him and he seemed disoriented. He didn’t look good. But he insisted that he was fine. I came back later to check on him and I found him here on the floor.” Wilkins pointed to an area about a foot from where he was standing. “He wasn’t responding so I called the ambulance right away. They were here within minutes and took him to the hospital.”

“What hospital? Give me the number,” Jack demanded. “I need to find out what—”

“No,” Wilkins said. “That’s not necessary. The hospital already called here. About an hour ago.”

“And?” Jack asked anxiously.

“They said Paul had a brain aneurysm.” Wilkins hesitated. “And I’m sorry to have to tell you this but . . . well, he didn’t make it.”

Jack slumped into a chair, too shocked to stand.
 

“I’m sorry. I thought you knew.” Wilkins seemed on edge. I was getting a weird vibe from him.
 

I glanced over at Erik.
“Erik, do you feel that?”
I thought to him.

“Yes, there’s something he’s not saying. Let’s see what he’s thinking.”

Erik and I focused on Wilkins’ mind. He was standing right in front of me so his thoughts were loud and clear.
 

“I’ve gotta get out of here! I’m a horrible liar. These people will see the guilt on my face! I can’t believe I did this! I do their research. I keep quiet. Isn’t that enough? How could they force me to kill a man? A friend! Just because they found out he had some file? What the hell was in that file that was worth killing a man for?”

My heart began to race as I realized what Wilkins had done to Paul. I listened for more, but Wilkins turned to leave.

“Well, thank you for telling us,” Jack said, still in shock.
 

Wilkins nodded at Jack, then quickly walked out. As he raced down the hall, I continued to hear his thoughts.
“The police will never believe who was really behind this. I’ll be the one they come after! My career is over! Why did I have to keep working with GlobalLife? I knew all that money would only get me into trouble.”

I watched as Wilkins sprinted out of the building. I could no longer hear his thoughts.
 

Erik searched the room for hidden cameras. Hidden microphones were also a possibility. “Dad, get up.”
 

Jack didn’t move. He was white as a ghost. Erik grabbed a piece of paper from Paul’s desk and scribbled something on it. He handed it to Jack.

Jack read it, then bolted from his chair. “We should go.” Brittany and Erik gave him a strange look. He shot them a look back that made it clear they were not to speak. We all left the building in silence and didn’t speak again until we were in the van.

Once we were on the road, Jack started asking questions. “Now what exactly did you hear, Erik?”

“That Professor Wilkins somehow did this to Paul. He didn’t say how he did it. Could have been an injection of something. I don’t know.”

“So that’s why we raced out of there?” Colin asked. “You’re saying that the professor guy killed Paul?”

Brittany gasped. “Seriously? That’s awful. I liked Paul. He was so nice.”

“And Wilkins said GlobalLife made him do it,” Jack confirmed. “Are you sure about that, Erik?”

“Yes. Well, he said something about GlobalLife. I can’t remember exactly how he said it.”

“He said that he had done all this research for them and kept quiet,” I explained, filling in the story. “And he said they made him do it because they found out Paul had a file. It has to be that file we just opened. But how did they know?”

Jack sped down an on-ramp to the interstate. “We have to get away from here. This is proof that GlobalLife is watching that whole place. The lab. Paul’s office. Who knows? They could have been watching his house. Those helicopters the other day? They probably
were
from GlobalLife.”

“Dad, slow down. I see cops ahead.” The police were over a mile away but Erik could see them with his enhanced vision.

Jack slowed down. “Keep a lookout for more of them.”

“If GlobalLife knew we were there, they would’ve come and got us,” I pointed out.
 

Jack shook his head. “We don’t know who was watching. It’s a huge corporation. If there were people from GlobalLife watching Paul or Professor Wilkins, those people may not even know about you and Erik. I told you, GlobalLife only lets a small group of employees in on these high-level projects.”

“So that’s good, right?” Erik asked. “If they don’t know about us then it’s not a big deal if they saw us.”
 

“I’m worried that GlobalLife had a camera planted in Paul’s lab. If so, the main security offices at GlobalLife will review the video. Someone there will recognize us.”
 

“But Paul would have known about a camera,” I said. “He told us he checked that room for cameras all the time.”
 

“Yes. But they could have placed the cameras there last night, knowing this was going to happen to Paul. I’m sure that GlobalLife is monitoring Paul’s lab today to see who shows up looking for him. And since we were the first ones there after his death, I know they’ll be trying to identity us. We should have never gone back there this morning.”

“Why would they wanna kill him?” Brittany asked.
 

Jack sighed. “Sounds like they found out he had that file. But the fact that this happened at the same time we were there has me very concerned. It could be a coincidence, but I just don’t know.”
 

We drove for several more hours, heading east through California. Eventually Jack stopped for gas. “I need one of you to drive for a while.”

Erik tried to read Jack’s face. “Are you all right, Dad?”
 

Jack seemed to be in a fog. “I need some time to think this through. Paul’s death. Or murder is more like it. I just don’t know what it means. Is it a message for us? Do they know where we are? Are they following us right now?”

Colin volunteered to drive. Jack went back to the third-row seat. Erik stayed in the passenger seat and Brittany and I sat behind him.

We got back on the interstate and I tried connecting with Erik’s mind.
“Erik? Are you listening? You should probably talk to your dad. He seems really upset about losing his friend.”

“It’s more than that. I think . . . worried that . . . next.”

“What did you say? Your thoughts were cut off.”

“He’s worried . . . next.”

“Erik, I’m only getting part of what you’re thinking.”

“That’s . . . because . . . part . . . saying.”

I tapped Erik on the shoulder. “I can’t hear what you’re thinking.”

“Yeah, same here. You keep cutting out. It’s like when we were trying to hear Brittany and Colin the other day and that helicopter went by.”

“It could be cell tower interference,” I suggested.

“We always have cell towers around us. That’s never affected us before. Let’s try again.”
 

“Can you . . . me . . . now?”
Erik smiled at me as he imitated an old cell phone commercial.

“No. I only heard a few of the words.”
I thought back to him.
“Did you hear any of that?” I asked him out loud.

“I heard ‘no’, ‘few,’ and ‘words,’” Erik said.

“And I only heard part of what
you
said.”
 

Erik turned back around as we both thought of possible explanations.
 

I nudged his shoulder again. “Erik. Is there something in the van that could cause some type of interference?”

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, maybe I’m being overly cautious after what happened, but what about that laptop Paul gave us? What if it’s bugged? Sending out a signal? Or what if someone put something on or in the van?”

Erik bolted out of his seat and crawled back to where his dad was sitting. “Erik?” I looked behind me. “What are you doing?”

He was talking quietly to his dad, likely telling him my theory. Jack got the laptop from behind his seat and starting taking it apart. After a few minutes, he put the laptop back together. Erik shook his head at me, indicating there was nothing in it.

“Colin, pull off at the next exit,” Jack said. “I need to check something.”

When we stopped, Jack checked under the van, under the hood, and anywhere else a locator or listening device could be hidden. Then he got back in the van. “Well, it’s all clean. But that was a good idea, Sam. It was worth checking. Colin, do you want to keep driving?”

“Sure, no problem.” Colin stayed in the driver’s seat and Erik sat next to him.

Jack took the back seat again. “We’re driving till we get to Minnesota. No stops, except for meal and restroom breaks. So everyone will have to take a turn at the wheel.”
 

I looked over at Brittany, who wasn’t listening. She’d put her headphones back on and was staring out window.
 

“I’ve got a road game if you guys are interested,” I said to Erik and Colin.

“Sure,” Colin answered.

“Okay, I’m in,” Erik said.

“Well, it’s kind of stupid but we’ve got nothing else to do. It’s like a scavenger hunt. We each make a list of things for the other person to look for. So for example, if I’m making Colin’s list, I could say that he has to find a purple convertible, a black minivan, a car that has beads hanging from the rear view mirror, and so on. First one to check off all the items wins. Got it?”

“Yeah,” they both said.

“Okay. I’ll make the lists. Let me get some paper.”

“Wait a minute,” Colin said. “You both have like, superhero vision and can see miles ahead. That’s not fair.”

“Then you can make the lists for Sam and me,” Erik suggested. “Make them extra hard.”

Colin agreed, coming up with items for both Erik and me to find. I made the list for Colin. We started the game and Colin found two items right away, which irritated Erik.